Connecting Laptop to TV via VGA

[Tim Turner]

This is for the electronic guru's out there. My girlfriend has a Dell Laptop with VGA input and just bought an Insignia LCD TV with VGA input. She wants to be able to use the LCD TV as a computer monitor every now and then. I assumed that I could buy a VGA cable, plug it in, and it would show up on the TV monitor. We went and bought the cable, plugged it in, adjusted the display properties of the computer, and got the background of the computer onto the television, but there were no icons and when we brought up a screen on the computer, it wouldn't show up on the television screen, just the background. Can anyone explain step by step a way to accomplish this or are we looking at a dead end? Thanks in advance.

 

[Jacob Dryer]

There should be some sort of option to set the TV as a "clone" of the laptop. What it sounds like you did was set it as an extension of the monitor, so you would mouse over to the right and should see it on the tv then.



edit: I realize that isn't very specific but it totally depends on the video card. To set my nvidia on my desktop up that way I had to goto advanced display then into the nvidia specific control panel then I could set it as clone.

 

[Ron N]

This may or may not help._Ron

 

[Tim Turner]

Thanks for your help. I actually found that exact same site when trying to set it up, but it was a bit confusing on instructions. I'm gonna call one of my electronic guru buddies this week and see if he can help. Thanks again.

 

[Casey B]

The display settings have to match that of the LCD such as 1020x800 etc... Find out the properties of the LCD and set the display accordingly.

 

[Keith Lewis]

Reduce the resolution for the display. The adapter properties should be able to handle a separate resolution when you plug in a monitor to the laptop so that you don't always have to change it.

 

[Don Edwards]

Ok looks like you have extended your desktop thro your vga port to your screen, and JDBoxes is correct, to test this goto start, control panel, display, settings tab, click the identify button, and if the number two shows up on your LCD that is exactly what you did.



Ok so to correct this, click on the number two monitor in the window that shows the two monitors, 1 and 2 and down lower you will see a smaller box with the saying extend my window desktop onto this monitor, if there is a check mark there uncheck it.



click apply and Ok



Now on your laptop all you have to do while the Laptop is connected to your LCD monitor is hold down the Function key Fn, and either F3 F5 or F7 or F8, what button you are looking for has the image of a monitor with two vertical lines one on either side.



It works in a three way step, just the laptop screen , or the laptop screen and the LCD monitor, or just the LCD monitor.



Now for those that are advanced, you can use the extend my windows desktop thro your VGA port, so check that you are clicked onto the number two monitor, the place a check mark in the box that says extend my windows desktop onto this monitor, now this will allow you to use your laptop screen and your LCD monitor at the same time. You will just have to drag and placed your explorer windows onto this second monitor. At my work I have it set to have windows Media player open, and my outlook, and sometimes I drag and drop a second explorer window to allow me to multitask..yeah right,,,LOL



Well I hope that helps.



Don Monkeyboy

 

[Tim Turner]

That worked like a charm Don Monkeyboy. We had the desktop extended to the monitor, but didn't know to hit the Function and F8 keys. Thanks everyone for your help.